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Regular-article-logo Saturday, 04 May 2024

The ‘Goebbels’ effect: ABVP forces withdrawal of Calicut varsity magazine

ABVP supporters said the annual students’ magazine had “objectionable” content on the PM and Hindu deities

K.M. Rakesh Bangalore Published 16.10.19, 01:03 AM
One of the poems that the ABVP found objectionable virtually describes Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Hitler and Goebbels, like body and mind”.

One of the poems that the ABVP found objectionable virtually describes Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Hitler and Goebbels, like body and mind”. (PTI)

Supporters of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, have forced Calicut University in Kerala to withdraw the annual students’ magazine over “objectionable” content on the Prime Minister and Hindu deities.

The university students’ union, controlled by the CPM-backed Students Federation of India, had published the magazine, Post Truth, recently.

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According to the ABVP, the journal contained “vulgar” poems in Malayalam, one of them targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and another one “humiliating” Swami Ayyappan, the celibate deity of the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

“Every students’ union has its freedom to pick the content. But this one was a bit too much since they maligned the Prime Minister and our deities,” ABVP Malappuram district president Anupama T.C. said.

One of the poems that the ABVP found objectionable virtually describes Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “Hitler and Goebbels, like body and mind”.

ABVP activists staged a demonstration in the university campus on Monday and forced the administration to stop further distribution of the magazine.

The SFI has said a “review” should be carried out in the light of complaints that the content of the magazine hurt religious feelings of Hindus and Muslims.

“We are not for completely scrapping the magazine. But we want the university to take a stand and remove at least two poems, one against Muslims and the other against Hindu deities,” SFI Malappuram district secretary KA Sakkeer told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

“The SFI will never support anything that would hurt the sentiments of any religion. That’s why we took such a stand,” he added.

But Sakkeer contended that the Prime Minister was not beyond criticism. “He is a politician who is open to public scrutiny. So we don’t agree that the Prime Minister is above criticism,” he said.

Anupama, an MA English student in a college affiliated to the university, had written a letter to the university authorities seeking immediate withdrawal of the magazine.

“The scenario is similar in all SFI-controlled universities and colleges. They just project their ideology and denigrate everyone else,” Anupama said. “Several pages are littered with expletives for the sake of it,” she added.

“Our college magazines have always been a platform for students’ creativity,” she said, asked whether ABVP-controlled college unions do not try to propagate its ideology through their college magazines.

Earlier, Sangh parivar organisations had forced Mar Athanasius College in Kothamangalam in central Kerala to withdraw its annual magazine because of a reference to Swami Ayyappan.

The college authorities later said the magazine was not properly edited and hence had to be withdrawn.

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